Biography

Stephen King is perhaps the most successful and widely read author in the world. He has written over fifty novels, as well as several non-fiction books such as Danse Macabre (a study of horror in literature and film) and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Born in…more

Charlie McGee, main character of his novel Firestarter is a 9 year old girl. In the book's "afterword", Stephen thank his daughter Naomi for helping him understand the personality of a "bright nearly-10-years-old" girl.

Kathy Bates, Drew Barrymore, John Cusack, Pat Hingle, Ed Harris, Timothy Hutton, Thomas Jane, and Steven Weber are so far the only actors to participate in more than one movie based on Stephen's books.

Originally, Tabitha King is who to thank for the classic Carrie. The reason why is that Stephen threw his first manuscript of "Carrie" in the garbage. Tabitha loved it so much she retrieved it and got him to reconsider.

Stephen wrote an X-Files episode entitled "Chinga" (5x10) that was forced to be retitled "Bunghoney" while airing overseas. Unbeknownst to King at the time, Chinga is also an offensive Spanish slang term.

In late 1999, the same year he was struck by a minivan driven by Bryan Smith, King purchased the van that hit him for $1,500. He had originally planned to destroy it with a sledgehammer on the anniversary of the accident, but was unable to move well enough to accomplish this. Instead he had the van destroyed in a crusher, partly as a sort of revenge and partly so that it wouldn't appear on Ebay.

From 1977 - 1984, King published five books under the pseudonym "Richard Bachman." Eventually a journalist uncovered the secret and King gave up the identity. In 1996, however, he published his novel "The Regulators" as a posthumous work by Bachman.

King has been quoted as saying that his favorite horror movie is "Tourist Trap." This low-budget cult film centers around a deranged killer with the power to control mannequins who attacks a group of tourists.

It's rumored that Stephen will not sign autographs because of superstition. The fact is that he does not autographs photos at all because he hates the idolatry of celebrities. He also will not endorse an official fan club for the same reason.

At one time, he would sign books if they were mailed to him for that reason, but to help ease his workload as he enters semi-retirement, Stephen will now only sign autographs at book-signings.

On June 19, 1999, King was taking a walk on a road near his home in Bangor, Maine when he was hit from behind by a Dodge van. The driver of the van, Bryan Smith, had been drinking and was distracted from the road by his dog, who was trying to steal some meat from a cooler behind the passenger seat. Smith had been arrested and cited several times before for driving under the influence and for reckless driving.

King was thrown 14 feet off the road into a small depression, where he was later found. He suffered a broken hip, a split knee, and four broken ribs. His leg was broken in at least nine places, and his spine was badly chipped but not broken.

King used the accident as an inspiration for his ABC series Kingdom Hospital.

In 1999 Stephen revealed that he suffers from a condition called Macular Degeneration. This is an eye disease in which the light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye malfunction and eventually stop working, causing blindness. The condition is currently incurable, though it might be treatable in its early stages through the use of a retinal prothesis which is currently being designed.

Quotes

Stephen King: Rob Reiner, who made Stand By Me, is one of the bravest, smartest filmmakers I have ever met, and I'm proud of my association with him. I am also amused to note that the company Mr. Reiner formed following the success of Stand By Me is Castle Rock Productions... a name with which many of my long time readers will be familiar.

Stephen King: I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.

Stephen King: Thirty-five years ago I wrote a novel called "The Running Man", in which viewers watched fugitives run until they were executed on national television. I never expected to see anything remotely like it for real, but I never imagined Nancy Grace... and I've got a pretty nasty imagination.

Stephen King: The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... logic can be happily tossed out the window.

Stephen King: I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There's some pretty good homegrown dope. I'm sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses.

Best author ever

This guy truly is a great author. He does`nt fly through his stories; he takes his time and lets them develope giving us a truly fulfilled moment of reading. Although some of his antagonists did`nt feel right for thier stories, he still does a fine job with writing.

Important:
You must only upload images which you have created yourself or that you are expressly authorised or licensed to upload. By clicking "Publish", you are confirming that the image fully complies with TV.com’s Terms of Use and that you own all rights to the image or have authorization to upload it.

Please read the following before uploading

Do not upload anything which you do not own or are fully licensed to upload. The images should not contain any sexually explicit content, race hatred material or other offensive symbols or images. Remember: Abuse of the TV.com image system may result in you being banned from uploading images or from the entire site – so, play nice and respect the rules!